Guest speaker, Pastor Andy Shanholtz, preached this message on July 14, 2024.
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Audio Transcript
Probably doesn’t need much introduction to many of you, but for those of you who do consider it an introduction, if you don’t. If he doesn’t need to be introduced to you, just think of it as a sweet reminder. He and his wife Jean next week will be celebrating 43 years of marriage. Let’s give a round.
That’s a pretty sweet thing, pretty special thing. He also wants you to know that he’s currently coaching and counseling. He runs a coaching and counseling ministry called Pastor to Pastor. And he was an interim pastor here at Lake Wisconsin through Covid and all of everything like that for 15 months. Please help me welcome up Pastor Andy Shanholz.
Thank you, Hunter. Well, it’s such a blessing to be here with you guys. You know, the last service is like Jean and I came back and it’s like visiting our parents, you know, and it was just great seeing them and just a gracious warm welcome they gave us. And here in this service, it’s like siblings or my kids are here, so. But it’s just a real joy.
I thank you all for the gracious welcome that you have given Jean and I as we come here. We love this church family and I’ve had some fond memories here other than the drive from Sheboygan for 15 months, that was a little strenuous, but we met some great people and I love you guys dearly and thank you so much for your friendship and just being a part of our lives, too. Just so gracious of you. Just a little background as far as pastor, Pastor update. Actually, God really has been blessing that I started out this year.
Most of those that know me know that I’m a real planner, strategic planner guy. And this year I just thought, you know, God is your ministry. Whatever you want is what I’m going to do. So I really made no plans, no nothing. Just I’m available, Lord, whatever you want to do.
And God just opened up a lot of doors and opportunities for me to not do a lot of speaking, but meeting with a lot of. A lot of pastors and that has really increased. God has also opened up the doors of opportunity to do some interviewing with pastors. When churches hire pastors, they call me in to just do a kind of a final check. Is this guy a good fit for our church, our culture, all that we stand for?
So I would give them my advice on that. But the latest great thing that the Forest Lake District of the Evangelical Free Church has asked me to be one of their workshop speakers this October. I’m going to be talking on ministry burnout because they’re finding that so many people are leaving the ministry. You know, within. Within five years, almost 80% of pastors will quit that graduate seminary.
Almost 85. Between 65 and 85% pastors will quit within the first five years of ministry. And they say, you know, it’s because they feel alone, they feel abandoned. They don’t have anyone they can go to to talk and just really to vent. And then it’s also very strenuous on their marriages and their families as well.
And so I’ve done a lot of work in just helping pastors mainly find margin in their marriage and their ministry because it’s so easy for the church to become your mistress. And you’re in, and you just get all in and your work and then your relationships begin to suffer and fail. And if you have children, they really feel the brunt of your being absent all the time because you’re trying to serve everybody else, but you neglect your families. And so then the district has just recently asked me to be a part of their residency and internship program program to put together criteria and guidelines, working with pastors that are ready to be launched into ministry, to give them some parameters of how to do ministry well, because your church is only as healthy as its leadership. And so they want me involved in helping them find margin in their own lives.
It’s easy to preach a sermon. It’s easy to have all the theology put together, but what about the application of these things? Because you’re supposed to model healthy marriages, healthy families. But yet I find a lot of pastors, their relationships suffer and they leave ministry because their marriages are not healthy. They’re coexisting together.
Their kids, once they get 18, leave the church altogether because they see the hypocrisy. They’re saying one thing, but your lives are doing something totally different. And so my mission really has been helping them fix that. And God is really opening a lot of opportunities for me. The district director, most of you know, Rob Wisey, he’s.
He’s being supported by this church as well. And Rob is taking a step back because he called me from Myrtle beach and said, you know, so Andy goes, I. Things you’ve been sharing, you know, we know it’s. We know it’s important. We know it’s needed, but we.
But he goes, I really didn’t realize how much it was needed until I was on my own sabbatical. He goes, when I get back, because you and I are going to talk and we’re going to get you more involved in these churches and helping their pastors get healthy. And so I’m real blessed and honored that God has did all that work. It wasn’t me trying to put together a strategic plan how to do it, but just to be accessible and letting my gift. Proverbs 18:16Aman’s gift will make a way for him and bring him before kings or people of influence.
Proverbs 18:16 that’s been one of my life verses and before. I know a lot of missionaries would just go and tell you about what they’re doing, but I’m going to preach. Most of you know I like to preach. I like to teach the Word. I’m going to do that for you.
But before I do that, I just want to make mention of the tragedy that happened yesterday. Just in the political world, we know that it’s election year and we can’t hide our head in the sand. We know that it’s a problem whether you support the candidate or not. It’s really not the point. The point is these are human beings and we need to be civil.
And whether you cheer for one side or the other, it doesn’t really matter. God is not surprised when the other person is elected that your candidate doesn’t get elected. God’s not surprised. Doesn’t take God by surprise. God’s always in control.
God’s ultimate goal is setting up strategically, putting it in place, bring about the culmination of the age and going to return and establish a kingdom here on earth. But in the meantime, we have an obligation, and I’m going to read it to you in first Timothy chapter, Chapter two, Verse one. Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, not just your political allegiance, but for all men, for kings and all who are in authority. That we may. Here’s why we pray for them.
That we may. That we may lead a quiet and peaceful life, that in all godliness and reverence, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desire all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men. The man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
I think what I like to do before I start my message is just take a couple Minutes, not real long, but just a moment of self reflection. And pray however you want to pray within yourself for our country. It’s election year and we need God’s person that he has appointed that God has chosen the to be placed in the office. But we also need to pray for humility in our own hearts, but also the civility of our country. I remember as a kid getting up and you have these debates.
They were always respectful, they disagree, but they always respect. And it’s important to respect the office. You don’t have to agree with the person, but respect the office. We have a great country here, friends, a great country. We have freedoms that nobody else has.
So let’s pray like you said, when we pray that we may live a peaceable and righteous life here. And so let’s just take a moment, maybe a minute or two, and just be quiet before the Lord. I’ll pray and then I’ll enter into my message. How’s that.
Father? God, our hearts are heavy, but yet Lord, we know that with you all things are possible. And Lord, we know that you are the Prince of Peace. And so Lord, we just pray for our country that we have been graciously allowed to live in. And Lord, we want to pray for our leaders, those that are currently in authority and those who aspire to be in authority.
Lord, we ask that your will be done. We pray number one, protection upon all of the candidates and their families. Father, we pray that we would have the ability to be respectful in all that we say and all that we do because that respect flows out of the love of Jesus Christ. It’s in our own hearts. And Lord, it also says in that passage in Timothy that they would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
And Father, that’s really what these leaders need, is a personal relationship with you. So we ask, Lord, that you’ll open the eyes of their understanding that you will cause their hearts to be turned towards you, that they can lead out of relationship with you, that we can live peaceful and righteous lives. So Lord, as I prepare to share this word today, I pray for the anointing of your Holy Spirit to be upon my tongue to bring forth the Word with clarity and understanding. A word the adversary cannot withstand nor contradict, but a word that will give hope, give comfort and give peace. And Lord, so we commit the events of this, what’s happening in our country, our world today, we commit them into your hands.
And we ask, Lord, that you would direct our prayers, our intercessions on a daily basis, that we pray according to Your perfect will that your will be done in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you all for taking that time of prayer and just our quietness, our silence. What it does is show solidarity, that we’re one heart for God’s will to be accomplished.
And we all agree on that. Amen. I’m going to talk to you about taking God at his word. How many know that? That’s a very important statement, Take God at His word.
I know for myself it’s sometimes that’s a wrestling match because I, you know, so we get so set in our ways that we think that we’ve got it figured out and we just want God to show up and bless what we want. And a lot of times we will pray based upon, well, God, I want you to answer my prayer. But here are the conditions that I want you to answer my prayer. I want it to happen this way. And God sometimes just laughs and says, you guys are funny.
Because, you know, God sees the end from the beginning. He knows how things are going to turn out and he knows what will happen when things happen according to his will. He also knows what would happen if he gives us our way. Just look at Jonah, for example. He didn’t take God in his words, that God created a great fish, swallowed Jonah, and took him where he wanted him to go.
I don’t know about you, but that’s happened to me more than once where God has had to create circumstances to get me to certain destinations because I didn’t want to go there. I mean, who wants to move to Wisconsin?
I’ve been here for 47 years. Almost 50 years. I can’t believe it. Almost 50 years. I need to wake up that fish.
Hey, let’s go back now. I’ve been here long enough, but I’ll go to Florida, I’ll go to Hawaii. I mean, what’s wrong with those places? No, I’m here. But, you know, but when you finally yield to what God wants you to do, it is amazing.
You look back hindsight, and you go, you know, I can’t imagine life to be any better or any different than what it is now. I am truly a blessed person. And really, it all boils down not to what I’ve done, other than be obedient to what God has called me to do. I’m a blessed person and I could not have picked the outcome of my journey any better or scripted it any better than how it has turned out. Has it always been easy?
No, not by a long shot. Gene’s wanted to kill me more Than once, probably more than we can count.
But, you know, I became immune to poison. I mean, that shows you that works. You know, if you drink anything harmful, they won’t hurt you. But, you know, in seriousness, though, it has been a great, great relationship. We’ve been blessed with a beautiful daughter.
We have four grandkids. And you’ll probably hear me allude to them in my sermon here. But we’ve just been blessed, and it’s just really cool to see what God has done and continues to do in our lives. When I was preparing this message, I had actually received a challenge from another church that was doing a series that says, we’re going to give you some verses. We want you to write a sermon on it.
I said, okay. And so I take this sermon, as I take most of my reading material, the verses they gave me and what I normally do, I think I shared with you guys when I was here, that I incorporate in my devotional time, my time with God. Because we as pastors, a lot of time, we spend all our time studying, preparing messages for you, but we don’t prepare anything for ourselves. And that’s why pastors burn out, because they don’t have that intimacy, that time alone just with God. They’re so focused upon feeding you that they eat leftovers or they don’t eat at all.
And then they begin to affect their spiritual walk with God. And so when I study, when I read passages, one of the things I will do, I will look at it and I’ll read through the scripture, sometimes two or three times. And then when something really leaps out at me, I will write that phrase or that verse or that word down. Because God is speaking to me. Okay?
That’s a phrase that the verse. That’s a passage that he really wants to speak to me about. And, you know, you read it quickly, then you read it slowly. Then the third time, you just kind of read it in sections. And then you allow the Holy Spirit to begin to speak to your heart.
And then the second thing I do, when I. Then I begin to journal, I write that down. I begin to say, observation. What is actually occurring in the text that I’m reading? What’s the historical significance?
What was the author’s original intent in writing this down? What was he addressing? What was he trying to communicate? And then I asked myself, okay, that’s what he’s trying to communicate. That’s what the context is talking about.
So what is the application to me? What are you trying to say to me in my. In my journaling Now I know the culture and the history, but how does that apply to me? What is my takeaway? For me, because it’s my devotion.
It’s something that God is feeding me. And then I’ll write down the application, and then I will pray that God would do that in my life. So that’s. That’s. So that’s what I did with this particular passage.
I begin to just write it out. And so I’m going to read to you John, chapter 2, verses 1 through 11. The title of the message is Taking God at His Word. On the third day, there was a wedding in Canaan of Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there.
Now, both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. Jesus said to her, woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it.
That’s the phrase that leaped off the page to me. Whatever he says to you, do it. Now, let’s read on. Now, there were six water pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing 20 or 30 gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water.
And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast. And they took it. And when the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. The master of the feast called the bridegroom.
And he said to him, every man at the beginning sets out the good wine. And when the guests have well drunk then inferior, it’s like drinking a nice Chardonnay or whatever. Then also they bring you Boone’s Farm, you know, you have kept the good wine until now. This is the beginning of signs Jesus did in Canaan of Galilee and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
Now this here, as I was reading through that, what resonated was, whatever Jesus says to you, do it. Take him at his word. And that’s why I asked the question, how many times have we actually taken God at His word? Do we have conditions on taking God at His word? We will take.
We will do this, God. But here are the perimeters of me being obedient to this. And God just laughs at us. And it’s interesting here that this was the very first miracle that Jesus did. That’s recorded in the Scriptures, and he turns water into wine.
Now these celebrations would last seven days. So the host was required to supply enough food and drink for seven days. And in Eastern culture, hospitality is a big deal. And so they got their self worth, their self esteem. Remember how Jesus rebuked the Pharisee when the Pharisee didn’t even offer him water to wash his feet?
And so Jesus was saying, hey, you didn’t offer me water, wash my feet. I mean, they’re supposed to take care of you. I mean, that’s their custom. That’s their tradition is they are very hospitable. And here, these people knew that when they were invited to a celebration, they were gonna be cared for.
There’s gonna be plenty of food, drinks, you just have fun, you celebrate with us. Don’t worry about all your sustenance. We’ll take care of that. But when the wine was gone, Jesus mother said to him, which kind of infers to me that Mary, Jesus mom must have had some type of relationship with the host of this party because she’s concerned that there’s no wine here. She’s concerned about what people may think because they’re running short of food and drinks or mainly drinks.
And so he says, so she says to Jesus, they have no more wine now. Jesus response was, woman, why do you involve me now? I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in management and I’ve had people that work for me. I used to have a phrase to people when they would come to me complaining about something. I always say, don’t come to me with complaints unless you already have a solution figured out, then you can talk to me.
But I would say this to them. I said, you know, poor planning on your part does not constitute a crisis on mine. I have a mean person to work with, but Jesus is much nicer to me. He doesn’t say that, but that’s what I’m thinking. Okay, we’re playing your part.
You knew those people were coming. It’s your responsibility. So why do you involve me in this? What am I supposed to do about this? So Mary, as a good mom, just kind of ignores what he says, but says, just do whatever he tells you to do.
Just go to him and tell him the situation and just do what he tells you to do. And that’s what happens here. So, and Jesus says, no, my time hasn’t come yet. And his mother says, go and have it, then dip the water and then serve it to the master of the ceremonies. And then the rest of the guests and so they do that.
But I find that Jesus is at the age where he has been released into full time public ministry. You know, in Jewish culture, you’re not really considered on your own as a man until you’re 30 years of age. Now, you can get married before then, but you still have to have mentors and minions, they call them, a group of 10 men that will supervise you and address you along the way. So they’re there to consult you on your journey so that you learn as you go. And so Jesus had these.
And so when Jesus now is 30 years of age, he knows that he’s now going to be on his own. He’s going to have to make his own choices, suffer the consequences to the choices that he makes, all these different things. He’s an adult. And so. And I’m thinking, okay, now I’m about ready to make my splash.
I’m going to make my entrance into the world. I want to put my fingerprint on this and I want to make my mark. And I’m thinking, this is kind of a behind the scene miracle. He turns water into wine for the first recorded miracle. Jesus, don’t you think it’d be more much grandiose than just turning water into wine?
I mean, really set the tone here. How, how It’s a wedding. And what if the bridegroom would have said this, I wish grandma and grandpa would be here. They died about, you know, 100 years ago and it would just be so nice to be here. All of a sudden they show up, hello.
Now that would have been a miracle. But that’s not what happened. He turns water into wine for them. And so as we look into this miracle, you’re going to see how this miracle has a lot to do with people’s expectations. And so I want to unpack it from that perspective.
That these miracles has a lot to do with what people’s expectations. Number one, the people here, they had journeyed and come to this wedding expecting that there’s going to be plenty of food and drink. I mean, they didn’t go and talk and murmur along the way, oh, we hope they have enough wine, man, it’s going to be a big party. We’re going to cut a rug and do all kinds of things. You know, we’re going to have a great time at this party.
And so I hope there’s enough wine, hope there’s enough food that we don’t have to worry about. Maybe we should pack some Twinkies or some peanut butter and crackers just in case. They ran. They didn’t even think about that. They expected there was going to be food, there’s going to be drink, and everything’s going to be okay.
Now Jesus mother, on the other hand, she had expectations as well. She looked at Jesus and said, listen, Jesus, you’re the son of God. You have the ability and the power to do something about this. She was expecting something of Jesus. She was expecting something.
Why? This is chapter two. In chapter one of John, Jesus himself, he’s dealing with his own expectations and Mary was there. In John chapter 1, Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist. God speaks from the heavens.
This is my beloved son. God himself spoke. This is my beloved son in whom I’m well pleased. And so Mary hears this, Jesus hears this. So Jesus is dealing with his expectations and he’s wondering, is it time for me to be released into full time ministry?
God just spoke, I’ve been baptized. And then his mom says that it’s time for you to do something. Jesus, I believe, is wrestling internally as to whether this is the appointed time to begin. I mean, he’s never done it before, so how would he know that it’s time to start. Think about it from his human standpoint.
It’s time to start. He knew it was going to happen. He just went through the identification with John the Baptist who was just baptized. He just heard the voice. Mary had a divorce, so she was expecting Jesus to come in and you know, do whatever he wanted.
You know, he had the power of God. He had God’s power in his life so he could easily do whatever, fix the problem. And Jesus said, well, you know, I’m not here for, I’m not a, I’m not here for a peak show. I’m here to be, you know, the expression of, of God and on earth and to be that expression of his love and grace to other people. Is this my time to start?
And as I begin to reflect on that, I begin to think also how life in general is met with a lot of unmet expectations. Isn’t it how we come and come into this world, we got all these expectations. You know, we’re in school, we’re in high school or whatever, different seasons of life and, and each season of life we have different expectations of things to happen. But sometimes those things don’t happen. I’ve learned that delay is not denial doesn’t mean that God is ready to do them in your life if you’re trusting God.
So never just give up and quit and says, oh, that must not be God’s Will. Maybe it’s just not God’s time. Not necessarily his will, but maybe not his time yet. And again, we wrestle with timing. We’re in a.
We’re in a prepackaged fast market society. I mean, you go through McDonald’s if you don’t get your food within a minute. Well, such as fast food. This is not very fast. People are so impatient.
Abraham waited 25 years for them, for a son to be manifested. Caleb And Moses waited 40 years to cross the promised land. And so there are times that we just have to say it’s God’s will. But not yet. Not yet.
But, you know, I’ve learned that, for example, when we have unmet expectations, when we’re dealing with these, it’s like carrying a bunch of bricks in a backpack. That just keeps weighing us down, keeps weighing us down because God is not moving, doing things in our time frame. You know, as I begin to reflect on some of my own unmet expectations. And some of you can identify with some of these. Like, you know, when our parents have.
Our parents let us down. As a kid growing up, did my parents fail me? Did they not meet my expectations? You know, as someone who has been a student of the Word. And I look at the roles of a parent who is to raise and nurture their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
And when they’re older, they’ll not depart from it. Doesn’t mean there may be a season of straying away. I know I strayed away for a season, but yet God gripped my heart and brought me back. Time is in God’s plan because it’s not meeting your expectations as to what we should be doing or what they are doing. Doesn’t mean you have failed.
Doesn’t mean that God is done. It means it’s not yet. I remember when I was in school, I played sports. I was very active in football, basketball and all the sports. And I was actually fairly decent.
I was a starting point, starting point guard on our basketball team. But all the years I played, my parents have never seen one game that I ever played. Never come to one game. My brother, who’s younger than me, probably a much better athlete, was being recruited by different colleges for play football. Parents never saw one game that he ever played.
You know, and so maybe your parents were absent, maybe they were abusive, or maybe you were abandoned. You know, we were abandoned when I was 13 years of age. It didn’t meet my expectations of what a parent is. As someone in the Word, I know what a mother And a father should do of investing in our children. That fell way short.
But I don’t follow their pattern of how I want to raise my children based on how they did it. I want to go back to what the scriptures say. So parents may let you down. Maybe that’s your unmet expectation. Maybe your job has to let you down.
Let me just comment back the parents again. We have four grandkids, and we live for our grandkids. They range from four, actually going to be five soon, to 14. And our youngest is in T ball. And he’s just the cutest little thing.
His dad’s six. Six. My daughter’s five foot. So you can imagine, you know, he’s only five and he’s growing. So he measures himself for every day because he wants to be tall.
But he’s so cute. If you got these grandkids that play T ball, you come out and he’s got this bat that weighs more than he does. The tee is about up to his chin. And then he’s up there, he wants to swing, and he swings it hard. The hat spins and so just so cute.
So he puts it back on. He’s up there, he makes another swing, and he finally hits the ball. They run to first base. And what’s really cute is when they run to third base. Why should I go?
These other two bases, this is closer to home. I’m over here.
Teach them to hit the ball first. We’ll teach them about running later. But just hit the ball. But, you know, but it’s so interesting that our granddaughter, we have one that plays soccer and she just got this big smile that lights up her room when you walk in. And she will ask us.
She looks for us. When Nana and Papa show up, she runs over, gives us hugs, and she’ll ask, are you coming to my game? Are you doing this? And we’re always there to their games with we can be. We rarely miss a game.
We have one daughter that’s a granddaughter that’s in the theater. She loves acting. She’s very creative. We go to all her plays and stuff. She’s got that side of the brain.
And she has the ability to spot us anywhere that we sit. She knows we’re there. And I can see her make eye contact and just smile because Nana and Papa are there. And the oldest, who’s a figure skater. If you’re on my Facebook, you know, I post a lot of her figure skating.
And she is just so gifted and so talented. We actually went to Wichita, Kansas, in January to watch her compete in the regionals. Wasn’t it regionals or Nationals? Regionals. And they won and ended up going to Las Vegas to compete in the nationals.
And so she’s very talented and very gifted at what she does. But here we drive just to spend time with them because it’s important to us. I remember what it was like not having my parents at my games. And I don’t, I don’t ever want them to feel that we, that we’re their biggest advocates, we’re their biggest super, their biggest fans. We’re going to be there for them.
And that just means so much. You know, there’s been times where maybe your job has let you down. Maybe you didn’t get the promotion you were promised. You didn’t get it. They, they, you were told you were going to get it, but then they bring in somebody that’s not even a picture and give it to them.
That’s happened to me as well. Maybe the church has let you down. But I’ve learned that people are not perfect. There’s sin, there’s gossip, there’s critical spirits, and there’s judgmental spirits, all in the church. If you’re looking for a perfect church, let me tell you, the moment you walk through the door, it becomes imperfect.
There’s no perfect church. Only perfect one is God. Maybe God has let you down. Maybe you expect God to come through for you and he hasn’t done it yet. And you’re wrestling with that God.
We know that what this person is doing is sin. It’s wrong. And we’re asking you to intervene. We’re asking you to show yourself faithful and strong. But yet God, you haven’t come through.
What’s going on? You know, God is doing a work in your heart, but he’s also doing a work in the heart of the person that you’re praying for. Because God sees the end from the beginning. He knows the impact of the transformation of that person’s life, how it will impact other people around them in their time frame. This is why God doesn’t respond to our prayers immediately.
Because he knows if you would just trust him and you would hold on regardless of what the enemy says, what the circumstances look like, you will hold on to the promise of God. God ultimately will be glorified and your prayer will be manifested. He’ll do that because remember, timing is always in God’s economy. God created time, time, time as a created entity in God’s mind. It’s already done.
He sees you as already glorified. We’re not glorified yet, but God sees you there already. There’s a process of sanctification that we have to go through to get to where God wants us to be. So God hasn’t let you down, folks. He hasn’t given up on you.
He loves you unconditionally. And you just got to remember the price of him giving his own son to die in your place, how much that shows how much he loves you. God has not given up on you. And God will not let you down. Maybe you feel your marriage has let you down.
Maybe you feel there’s no romance in my marriage anymore. Or maybe my spouse is so into themselves. But you know, God will change that when you allow him to change you. Let him change you and he’ll change those things. The weight, the stress, the hurt, the pain that’s caused from unmet expectations.
Every one of us deals with that. Sometimes it haunts us and it drags us down. But today is going to be the day that God does something great in each of our lives if we would just rest in his promise. You know, there’s a principle in the Bible, and it’s not a principle I like, but it’s a principle that’s in the Bible. And the principle is this, that things may get worse before they get better.
Things will get worse before they get better. Not always, but they may. Here’s some examples. Remember the story of Joseph? Joseph had to go to prison before he could be exalted to a place of leadership in the kingdom, bringing deliverance to God’s people.
David was promised to be king, but found himself running for his life and hiding in caves before he was exalted as king. Peter failed by denying Christ before he was restored and experiencing God’s grace. And then he preached in leading 3,000 people to salvation after Pentecost. Jesus himself had to die on a cross before he could be resurrected, providing us with hope, eternal life and forgiveness. Things appear sometimes to us.
They appear to get worse before they get better. But again, God sees the end from the beginning. He knows the outcome and he knows the God. What’s the ultimate, ultimate goal? To glorify God.
And he knows that whatever he’s working towards is going to bring glory to him if we would just trust him. Things have to get worse before God can make them better is a principle we see throughout. In First Peter, chapter 5, verse 10. First Peter 5, verse 10, he says, after you have suffered a little while, God will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. See the Truth.
The promise that God gives us is that we have to suffer for a little while. God is going to show up and make us stronger. He’s going to make us better. But we have to put our hope and our trust in Him. See, our hope and our trust in God is not restricted to a time limit.
This is forever that we trust Him. Even when life doesn’t make sense, we still trust him because we know that God loves us unconditionally. God always has my best interest at heart and whether I like what’s going on or not. And there’s many times I don’t like what’s going on. I am crying like a baby.
I’m kicking and I’m screaming. I’m arguing with God. You gotta be kidding me. And God just says, are you done? We say that to our kids too, don’t we?
Are you done throwing your tantrum? And God says, I am working behind this. I’m working behind in you. I’m making you more like me. Because your trust in me is driving you to a greater dependency in me.
Then ultimately I’m going to change them. Because I desire that none would perish, but all would come to repentance and be saved. That’s my ultimate desire. And God says, I get what I desire, Selah. Paul doesn’t think about that.
I get what I desire. He pursued you and he got you. And he’s not going to let you go. Trust him. So the truth, the promise we have is that God may allow things to get worse before they get better, but God will come through.
What I found when I was meditating on these passages is that many of us are still living in verse 3 of John 2. The wine has run out. That’s where we stopped. Oh, party must be over. The wine is gone.
Pack up. Pack up those camels and those mules. Let’s go. Party’s over. No.
You may feel like you’re at the end of your rope. You may feel that all your hope is gone. You may have run out of options. But today is the day that God wants us to move from verse 3 to verse 10. Let’s look at verse 10.
And when we start at verse 10 in John chapter 2, what we see here, he gives us some guidelines of how. How we can live through unmet expectations. This is how we can live through unmet expectations. Number one. The first guideline for living our lives through unmet expectations is we have to look to Jesus for the solutions.
We have to. What did Mary say? Go to him. And what he tells you you do. You’ve got to look to Jesus for the solutions.
But many of us look to ourselves or look to other things. And we look to Jesus as our last resort. But he said no. Go to Jesus for the solution. In verse 10, he said to them, every man at the beginning sets out the good wine.
And when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now. The principle in scripture that things may get worse before God makes them better. God’s best is coming in your situation. Look to Jesus for the solution.
Don’t lose hope. He’s going to heal your relationships. He’s going to promote you. He’s going to be glorified through your experiences. He’s going, if you would just trust Him.
Look to Jesus for the solutions. In John 16, verse 24, until now, you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete. God wants to be involved in our lives, but we have to ask Him. We have to give him that invitation.
We just can’t assume that God is just going to step in. He’s waiting for that invitation. Ask that you may receive. The second guideline that we have to meet to live through unmet expectations is do what Jesus says. First is look to him for the solutions and then do what God says.
What Jesus says. It’s all about obedience. In verse five, Jesus mother said to the servant, do whatever Jesus tells you. Whatever he says, you do it. We’ve got to ask.
Then whatever he tells us, whatever he speaks into our lives, we’ve got to do it. In James 2:17 says, Faith by itself, if it’s not accomplished by action and as dead. You say you want God to show up in your finances or God to work a miracle, but yet you’re not obeying. You do not give generously. Or maybe you’re lonely and you have no friends.
But you have not joined a small group or gotten involved in serving. Because Jesus and their servants obeyed, a miracle happened. Because they obeyed, a miracle happened. James 2:18 says, I will show you my faith by what I do. And finally, number three, the third guideline.
How do we live through unmet expectations? We let Jesus reveal himself to others through you. We let Jesus reveal Himself to others through you. Look at verse 11 of John 2. He says, he thus revealed his glory when Jesus turned water into wine.
When he did all these things, it says he revealed his glory. And when he revealed his glory, the Bible says his disciples then put their faith in him. When Jesus reveals himself through you to others. It enables others to put their faith in Jesus because you are a living testimony of the grace and hope of Jesus Christ. For many times, you’re the only, only book that your co workers and family members are ever going to read is you.
And then one of the church fathers once said, share the gospel, and if need be, use words. Share the gospel in your life. Let them see you. Let them see how you respond to adversity. Let them see how you respond to the things that did not meet your expectations.
Do you. Do you throw up a pity party? A tantrum? Do you kick the can? Kick the dog?
You know, what do you do when you don’t get your way? People are watching. What do you do when your candidate is not elected president? Do you move to Canada or Mexico? No.
You say God is in control. I don’t understand, but God is in control and I’m going to trust him. That’s where my faith is. It’s in Jesus. I trust him regardless of what happens.
Because God ultimately sees what the end from the beginning and he’s orchestrating a greater plan to bring about the culmination of the age and to bring peace upon the earth. So let Jesus reveal himself to others through you. Can you imagine emotional healing from a parent that has hurt you or betrayed you? Can you imagine that? What, how that feels, what that relationship is restored.
I just spent a little time in West Virginia with my mom, just recently, had a great time. God has really did a great work in restoring our relationship. Not that it was ever really bad. It just wasn’t healthy. Let me say that.
It just wasn’t healthy. We had nothing to talk about. You know, when you go home and you see an aging parent, you always want to reminisce about childhood memories. I don’t have any childhood memories that are fond to reminisce about.
You know, I can talk about this. I can talk about the time I spent in a foster home or the time how I felt when you didn’t show up in my basketball game, How I felt when you needed to come to my graduation, how I felt. You know, I can share about those things, but those are not fond memories and things that she’s not proud of either. But there’s things I could share about, but I can share now the common ground that we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, how God has healed our wounded heart, how he’s restoring that relationship and how he’s making things greater and just being able to communicate now that we weren’t able to communicate before. Can you imagine spiritual healing from a church where people have hurt you?
Can you imagine physical healing where faith arises and the weight is now ended? Imagine relational healing where friends are reconciled and there’s a flow of forgiveness. And even in your marriage, where there was once chaos and confusion, Jesus brings love, joy and peace.
Let me just close with this scripture here in Second Corinthians, chapter four, which is a summary of Paul, but I really think it really talks a lot about this. If you look at this second Corinthians, chapter 4, verses 8 through 12.
He says, we’re hard pressed on every side. You ever feel like you’re being blindsided by every direction? He said, yeah, but we’re not crushed, we’re perplexed. Have you ever been perplexed? I’ve been perplexed many a times.
He goes, but I’m not in despair because, you know, even though I don’t understand it, I know that God, the one I serve, is in control. And I know that he’ll never misguide me, but he’ll lead me in the way of righteous truth and holiness. I’m just gonna trust him. Did you ever do something that’s daring and you go, I don’t know if I can trust this person, you know, or even your parent as a parent. When your child is learning to swim, you tell them to jump off the side of the pool.
They don’t. They had no reservations. They jump.
And I think, you know, there are times that we’re just perplexed. I don’t understand God, but I’m going to jump. I know you’re going to catch me. I know it’s all going to be good. I’m just going to trust you.
He says, we’re persecuted, but we’re not forsaken. We’re struck down, but not destroyed. He says, we’re always carrying about. Now think about this, guys. Listen to this.
He says, I’m always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Why? That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus sake. That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in, in our mortal flesh in your bodies.
Here now we are to be a testimony because I experienced all these things. I experienced them. But you know, my goal is to manifest the life of Christ in my mortal flesh. Why so then death is working in me, but life in you. I don’t know about you, but when I go back, when I go back to visit West Virginia, they only remember me as the goofball that got saved in my last six months before, or actually last three months before I graduated from high school, I was quite a hellion up to that point.
And you’ve heard me share with you. I spent more time in the principal’s office than I did in my classrooms. And they used to joke, said that when the principal went to remodel his office, they asked me what asked my opinion for colors, for Paine’s room. I spent more time in there than he did.
So they always said, you were such a goofball. What happened? Jesus happened. Jesus got ahold of me one night and transformed me. And I haven’t turned back.
February of 1976. Friends, I remember the day, the place, the voice. I know I remember all things as if it happened yesterday. I remember getting out and saying, God, I’m so hurting. I got so much pain in my life.
I’m miserable. I didn’t care if I lived or died. I was so self destructive. I’d do things that most people would have been dead by now. I didn’t care.
I was angry at God. I had questions that I wanted answered that I wasn’t getting answered. Here I was up unhappy with my family situation. I was unhappy with me. But God came to me that night and he took me by the hand.
He says, trust me, serve me. And I got out of my bed that night and I trusted God. I put my trust as a broken man and I have never looked back because he took the pain away and he put a purpose in my heart for living. And from that, the very next day, I started preaching the gospel. The very next day.
I mean, I didn’t know anything. I just knew that I was changed. That’s what the gospel is. It’s good news. I was in pain, I was hurting, I was disappointed.
I was self destructive. But now I’ve got a life, I got a purpose for living. I’m excited for the things of God. I. I don’t know a lot of things about God, but I’m going to learn some things about God. And I did.
And see, friends, when death is working in you, it creates life in other people. They see the transformation, they see the changes and it brings about life in them. But you know, because sometimes we have to die to ourselves, get us out of the way. People have said to me more than once, you don’t respond the way I knew how, how you would have responded to these adversities. The person I knew before would have got really mad.
He would have really said some things that shouldn’t have been said. He would have broken some things that shouldn’t have been broken. But dear God changes us. And when they see that change they know it’s got to be supernatural because the best therapy in the world is not going to heal you, but Jesus is going to heal your wounded heart if you’ll trust him. Amen.
Take God at his word and he will come through for you and he will be glorified in your life. He created you for that purpose is that you would glorify him. Amen. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, again thank you for your word.
I thank you for these wonderful people that are here and Lord, I just trust that this word will bring healing to their wounded hearts. It will give them hope. It will help them in their journey to be the people you want them to be. Continue to manifest your grace in each and every person here in their lives to continue to lead them to where you want them to go so they will ultimately glorify you in Jesus name. Amen.